Mystery Master	Analysis of Modern Novels	Member

This four-star logic puzzle has 4 noun types, 5 nouns per type, 2 links, 18 facts and 4 rules. Because two women have Ruth as their names, I have a fact to make sure "Ruth1" comes before "Ruth2" to avoid duplicate solutions. Because of this and the fifth clue, I have a noun type called "Student". Two students also have the same last name, so I use the generic "SameLast" as one of the last names. Note the two novels by William Faulkner are "Absalom! Absalom!" and "Light in August".

What makes this puzzle difficult is the "sibling". Clue 3 tells us the one who chose "The Sun Also Rises" has a sibling, so the student who ends up with "SameLast" is the sibling.

From the clues, the ones who cannot have a sibling are: Shirley (clue 1), Yorke (clue 4), and Valdez (clue 5). From clue 2, Oscar and Peter are not related, but one of them may have a sister. And from clue 3, the two Ruths are not siblings. What all this means is that one of the men is a sibling of one of the Ruths.

From clue 5, we have some idea about the students.

1. Oscar, who may have a sibling
2. Ms. Underwood - either Ruth1 (may have a sibling) or Shirley (no sibling)
3. Valdez, who does not have a sibling
4. The novel "To The Lighthouse"
5. Either (a) the first name is Ruth2, (b) the last name is SameLast or the novel is "The Sun Also Rises" and the student with SameLast is the sibling, or (c) the novel is "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Before solving, please make sure level 4 (assumptions) is disabled, along with the analysis facts. The program finds 59/150 marks, only 3/30 pairs, with all facts fully examined except "Ruth1 is before Ruth2." Only rule 1 has been invoked. Looking at the grids:

• The 1st student is Oscar.
• The 2nd student (Ms Underwood) is either Ruth1 or Shirley, with last name Underwood or SameLast.
• The 3rd student is Valdez.
• The 4th student ("To the Lighthouse") is a woman, either Zaniewski or SameLast.
• The 5th student is either Peter, Ruth2, or Shirley, last name is not Valdez, and choose either "Light in August", "Ship of Fools" or "The Sun Also Rises".
• York is either 1st or 5th.
• Either Oscar or Peter choose "The Sun Also Rises", so they are not SameLast.

Analysis 1

The second clue tells us that exactly one of the two men chose a Faulkner novel (either "Absalom! Absalom!" or "Light in August"). If we assume Oscar chose "Absalom! Absalom!", the program eventually finds a contradiction. If we assume Oscar chose "Light in August", this also finds a contradiction. Therefore, Peter chose the Faulkner novel. If we assume Peter chose "Absalom! Absalom!", the program finds a contradiction, so Peter chose "Light in August". This assumption solves the puzzle. Note that only rules 1 and 3 were used.